PSFA Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the winter PSFA newsletter for Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities (RSCA)! I hope you enjoy reading about the diverse and exciting accomplishments of our faculty and students. From local, national, and international awards and grants to lectures, publications and exhibitions, PSFA faculty and students are making an impact through research and the arts. On a personal note, my research has grown to open new doors with support from The Mellon Foundation and other grants and contracts and I have taken a full time position as Director of the Institute for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Justice here at SDSU. While I am honored by the expanded support for my own RSCA, I will miss the opportunity to continue to expand RSCA in PSFA into the future. Being the first Associate Dean in PSFA to focus on RSCA and supporting faculty has been a joyful highlight of my academic career. I want to thank Heather Canary and Janis McKay for their leadership and Kurt Lindemann for his partnership. I hope that I have laid a foundation to continue to support this work to grow for all of you and the College. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with many of you in exciting cross-disciplinary projects!

Warmly,

Annie Buckley
Professor and Director, Institute for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Justice

Awards

Megan Welsh Carrol, Associate Professor, School of Public Affairs
2023 Dignity Defender of the Year
Awarded from Think Dignity for Project for Sanitation Justice

David Jancsics, Associate Professor, School of Public Affairs
Fulbright Scholar in Hungary for Academic Year 2024-2025

Texu Kim, Associate Professor, School of Music and Dance
SDSU Presidential Research Fellowship, Academic Year 2023-2024

Arzu Ozkal, Professor, School of Art and Design
2023 Outstanding Global Research and Creative Activity Award
The SDSU Faculty Global Engagement Symposium

Highlighting Faculty Research

Korea-ful Night Featured Speaker

In September 2023, San Diego’s House of Korea highlighted Korean history while celebrating Korean culture at the 2023 Korea-ful night. SDSU associate professor Chuyun Ohfrom the School of Music and Dance was a featured speaker at this event. In her speech, Dr. Oh discussed her experience offering the first K-pop dance theory and practice courses in the United States and where she believes the future of K-pop dance is heading in America.

Paving Pathways in Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Carl Winston, Alana Dillette and Sandra Ponting took to Philadelphia last October to represent SDSU at the diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) conference, “The Collective Experience.” This conference was held by the nonprofit Tourism Diversity Matters (TDM). As a member of the executive committee for TDM, Carl Winston was selected to co-chair the academic track for this conference. In this role, Winston organized presentations and invited keynote speakers that engaged attendees in ways to promote DEI in academia. At the conference, associate professors Alana Dillette and Sandra Ponting presented the work that TDM has done with DEI Audits conducted in 7 large tourism organizations across the United States. SDSU’s school of Hospitality and Tourism Management has been working alongside TDM by providing research into areas of academia and the corporate setting to find where DEI initiatives are needed most. This research contributes towards the shared goal of promoting social responsibility and implementing changes to create fair treatment and equal opportunities for everyone.

Grant Announcements

Exhibitions, Publications, and Media

Exhibitions

Carlos Castro, Associate Professor, School of Art and Design
La Resta de las Partes
Galería La Cometa Bogotá Colombia 2023


Arzu Ozkal,  Professor, School of Art and Design
17th Annual Dia de la Mujer Exhibition “Invisible Traditions”, curated by Katalina Silva & Arzu Ozkal

Publications

Media

Spotlight on Student Research

Communication Student Wins Presidential Award

At SDSU’s 2024 17th annual Student Symposium (S3),Communication student Annika Wong was honored with the President’s Award for her research presentation, Exploring Student-to-Student Confirmation, Communication Apprehension, and Academic Self-Efficacy in (Post) Carceral Education. Wong saw that formerly and currently incarcerated students were underrepresented in research, which was important to her because “Incarcerated populations are subject to large amounts of oppression and discrimination and have unique experiences that differentiate them from other populations.” In her research Wong focused on academic self efficacy, student-to-student interactions, and classroom communication apprehension (CCA) by comparing formerly incarcerated students to students who have never been incarcerated. She found that the formerly incarcerated students valued student-to-student interactions more than those who had never been incarcerated. In addition, in two other categories she studied — CCA and academic self efficacy — she found that the students in both groups were similar. While this study is an important first step in representation for current and formerly incarcerated students, more research is needed in order to ensure adequate representation for this underserved and often overlooked population.

Upcoming Opportunities

RSCA Webinar

Join Annie Buckley with Yin Yu in a Webinar presented by the national arts integration forum a2ru, on tips for engaging faculty in research, scholarly, and creative activities.
•March 22, 12:00 noon PST on Zoom.
Register Now

Division of Research and Innovation, Writing Retreat, May 2024

Registration for DRI’s MCTEN Writing Retreat for May 2024 is open! The Writing Retreat is an all-campus program that offers protected time over a two-day, expenses-paid stay at The Dana Resort in Mission Bay. Participants will enjoy an all-expense-paid two-night stay, with travel support for SDSU Imperial Valley faculty. The retreat will be unstructured, allowing faculty the freedom to work on their research/scholarship on the beautiful grounds of Mission Bay. Optional opportunities to socialize and network will be available at meals, coffee breaks, and evening bonfires/gatherings. Priority will be given to scholars who have not attended a past writing retreat and are working toward tenure. A limited number of additional spots will be available via lottery.

Date and Time: May 23 at 11:00 a.m. through May 25 at 11:00 a.m.
Location: The Dana Resort in Mission Bay

If you are interested, please register with the sign-up form by April 10, 2024.
For questions on the application process, please contact Avesta Baraki.